"It means China's spacecraft will become a genuine manned shuttle tool between space and Earth. It can send human beings to space stations or space labs. This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history.”

The Shenzhou-9 and its strapped-on rocket, the Long March-2F, have already been moved onto the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, where boffins will carry out the final tests of the craft, its booster, astronauts and ground systems.

There will be three astronauts aboard for the historical mission, one of whom is expected to come from the first batch of female taikonauts, chosen for Shenzhou-9 because of “their excellent flight skills and psychological quality”.

Their destination, Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace, is a space lab that’s been in orbit since September last year. The lab has already managed to couple with Shenzhou-8, an unmanned craft, in November. ®